One of the many challenges in home and building construction is energy consumption after the home or building is completed. An example of a conventional framed wall is illustrated in FIG. 1. A floor joist 10 has a subfloor 12 disposed atop the joist. A plurality of vertical wall studs 14 extend vertically between a horizontal top plate member 16 and a horizontal bottom plate member 18, thereby defining a wall frame. The wall frame is secured atop the subfloor 12 and joist 10. A wall board 20 is secured to the exterior side of the wall studs 14, top plate member 16 and bottom plate member 18.
Framed walls are usually given an energy rating. The higher the rating the more energy conserving the constructed wall is expected to be. A conventional wall system may have a nominal R-21 value, but the effective R-value is actually up to thirty percent (30%) less than the nominal value due to thermal bridging caused by the framing. This is because the wall framing members and studs serve as a “bridge” or “conductor” of heat through the wall. Thus, the temperature on the outside of the house is conducted through the wall via the physical contact that the frame members and studs have with the inner and outer walls. This results in a real-world reduction of the R factor of the wall well below its nominal value. For example, an R-21 rated wall only effectively has a value of R-16 using conventional materials and construction techniques.
A typical insulation upgrade offered by builders in order to offset the effects of thermal bridging and to increase the R factor rating of the framed wall is to spray foam insulation. Three (3) inches of spray foam will improve an R-16 rated wall to an R-21 rated wall, while a 5.5 inch thickness of spray foam (the depth of a 2×6 stud) will bring the R-16 rating up to an R-38 value. Another current attempted solution is to use a hybrid “flash and fill” or flash system. In the flash and fill system, the builder installs a two inch layer of spray foam and batt with fiberglass or fill with loose cellulous for the other 3.5 inches which raises the R-value to a stated R-30. However, neither of these current attempts to improve insulation values actually addresses the thermal bridging problem described above. Thus, even with these upgrades, the wall is still subject to the thirty percent thermal loss due to thermal bridging. For example, the “R-30” rated wall with the flash and fill upgrade only has an effective R-22 rating.
Therefore, there is a need for an energy wall stud member and wall framing solution that will cost-effectively and substantially reduce the effects of thermal bridging in walls that are in contact with outside building layers in a home or other structure.